Internet Of Things

The Internet of Things is becoming an increasingly growing topic of conversation. IoT is a concept that has the potential to impact how we live and work. What exactly is the “Internet of  Things” and what impact is it going to have on you ?? Lets know...

Internet of Things is the concept of basically connecting any device with internet letting them talk to us, applications and each other. The popular, yet silly, example is the smart fridge : what if your fridge could tell it is out of milk, texting you if its internal cameras saw nothing is left inside.

Lets look at some proper applications of IoT:

1.Smart home

Smart Home clearly is the most outstanding application of IoT. A smart home or building is a home or building, that is equipped with special structured wiring to enable occupants to remotely control or program an array of automated home electronic devices by entering a single command. For example, a homeowner on vacation can use a Touchtone phone to arm a home security system, control temperature gauges, switch appliances on or off, control lighting, program a home theater or entertainment system, and perform many other tasks

2. Smart City

Smart city spans a wide variety of use cases, from traffic management to water distribution, to waste management, urban security and environmental monitoring. Its popularity is fueled by the fact that many Smart City solutions promise to alleviate real pains of people living in cities these days. IoT solutions in the area of Smart City solve traffic congestion problems, reduce noise and pollution and help make cities safer.

3.Smart grids

Smart grids is a special one. A future smart grid promises to use information about the behaviors of electricity suppliers and consumers in an automated fashion to improve the efficiency, reliability, and economics of electricity.

4. Connected Health (Digital health/Telehealth/Telemedicine)

Connected health remains the sleeping giant of the Internet of Things applications. Smart pills and connected monitoring patches are already available, highlighting the life-saving potential of IoT, and many people are already strapping smartwatches or fitness bands to their wrists to track their steps or heartbeat while on a run.
There’s a host of clever connected health ideas: Intel made a smart bandthat tracks how much patients with Parkinsons shake, collecting more accurate data than with paper and pen; Sonamba monitors daily activities of senior or ill people, to watch for dangerous anomalies; and people with heart disease can use AliveCore to detect abnormal heart rhythms.
Healthcare is one area where more data has the potential to save lives, by preventing disease, monitoring it and by analysing it to create new treatments. However, our health is also one of the most sensitive areas of our lives, so privacy and security will need a bit more preventative medicine first.
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5. Smart farming

Smart farming is an often overlooked business-case for the internet of Things because it does not really fit into the well-known categories such as health, mobility, or industrial. However, due to the remoteness of farming operations and the large number of livestock that could be monitored the Internet of Things could revolutionize the way farmers work. But this idea has not yet reached large-scale attention. Nevertheless, one of the Internet of Things applications that should not be underestimated. Smart farming will become the important application field in the predominantly agricultural-product exporting countries.

Click here to understand the working and application of IoT with a simple video:

Video Source : YouTube

Is it safe? Can the internet of things be secured ?

Everything new and shiny has downsides, and security and privacy are the biggest challenges for IoT. All these devices and systems collect a lot of personal data about people – that smart meter knows when you’re home and what electronics you use when you’re there – and it’s shared with other devices and held in databases by companies.
Security experts argue that not enough is being done to build security and privacy into IoT at these early stages, and to prove their point have hacked a host of devices, from connected baby monitors to automated lighting and smart fridges, as well as city wide systems such as traffic signals.

The reality is that the IoT allows for virtually endless opportunities and connections to take place, many of which we can’t even think of or fully understand the impact of today. It’s not hard to see how and why the IoT is such a hot topic today; it certainly opens the door to a lot of opportunities but also to many challenges.